Talent Development Manager

Talent Development Manager/Palo Alto, CA




Shift: 20 hours per week, onsite in Palo Alto every Monday (Tuesday when Monday is a holiday), remainder flexible

Client Overview

A publicly traded data security and enterprise AI company headquartered in Palo Alto, with roughly 3,000 to 4,000 employees globally and more than 20 offices worldwide. This role sits inside the global Talent Development and Inclusion team, working alongside HR Business Partners and People Partners at the Palo Alto headquarters. The company is in an aggressive AI native transition, and the learning function is expected to reflect that.

Top 3 Skills

• Survey and feedback instrument design and administration, including cycle management and clean data flows
• People and program data analysis, scorecard and dashboard building, and turning feedback data into recommendations
• Learning Management System (LMS) administration

What You'll Do

• Facilitate in person New Hire Orientation in Palo Alto every Monday, a 45 minute session, and act as the Day 1 face of the company for Americas new hires
• Redesign orientation content so it reflects current culture, AI direction, and the full product platform
• Own the global New Hire Orientation strategy and playbook, codify how orientation runs, and train a volunteer facilitator bench from across functions
• Build and run the measurement strategy for the Talent Development and Inclusion team
• Administer talent development, inclusion, and periodic 360 feedback surveys, including building instruments, managing cycles, and maintaining data quality
• Build and maintain the team scorecard covering talent density signals, program reach, and manager metrics
• Analyze feedback and usage data to produce insights on learner experience and recommend changes that increase engagement
• Produce quarterly learning events for Palo Alto and the Americas, including local development sessions and manager programs
• Advise HR Business Partners, People Partners, and local leaders on how to apply existing talent development offerings to their team needs
• Apply generative AI tooling across the work to speed up design, analysis, and content production

What We Need From You

• Bachelor's degree in a related field and 5 or more years of relevant experience
• Hands on experience with data management and data analysis tools, including building and maintaining recurring reporting
• Experience administering a Learning Management System
• Working knowledge of Google Workspace and spreadsheet based analysis, plus practical experience using generative AI assistants in day to day work
• Available onsite in Palo Alto at the start of every work week

Bonus If You Have

• Qualtrics experience
• Docebo LMS experience (strong preference)
• Jira and Confluence experience
• Workday experience
• Experience administering 360 feedback cycles
• Event production or large group facilitation background
• Experience in a fast scaling technology company

Buzzwords

survey, surveys, Qualtrics, feedback, measurement, metrics, analytics, analysis, insights, scorecard, dashboard, reporting, LMS, Docebo, elearning, learning, curriculum, onboarding, orientation

Top 3 LinkedIn Job Titles

• Talent Development Program Manager
• Learning and Development Program Manager
• People Analytics Manager

Internal Market Recap

Pay Positioning

• No candidate facing rate was provided on this req, so the top of JD line is left as a placeholder for Jordan.
• Market context for a comparable Learning and Development Program Manager in the Palo Alto area: salary.com puts the California average around $135,000 with a Palo Alto specific figure near $151,500. Glassdoor's general Palo Alto program manager band runs from roughly $152,000 at the 25th percentile upward, though that pool skews technical and runs higher than L&D specifically.
• Translating to contract, a candidate facing rate in the $65 to $85 per hour range would land roughly at market for a 5 plus year talent development professional in this market. Below $55 will read as underpriced for Palo Alto and will lose people fast.
• The 20 hour per week structure is the real pricing wrinkle. Strong candidates will treat a part time contract as a partial income and will either want a premium hourly rate or the freedom to hold other work. Confirm the rate before heavy outreach.
• No prior rate is on file for client's at this location for this role type, so there is no variance to flag yet. Once this rate is set, it becomes the baseline.

Competitive Landscape

Local talent pool, Peninsula and South Bay employers with real Talent Development and People Analytics functions:

• Palo Alto Networks
• HP Inc.
• Hewlett Packard Enterprise
• VMware (Broadcom)
• Intuit
• Cisco
• Adobe
• Nutanix
• Zscaler
• Snowflake
• Stanford University and Stanford Health Care
• Tesla
• Meta
• Google

National and global peers in client's own competitive set, useful for the "who else is this candidate considering" angle:

• Cohesity
• Veeam
• Commvault
• Druva
• CrowdStrike

Selling Points and Watch-Outs

• Real ownership, not support work. This person owns the global New Hire Orientation strategy and the measurement strategy for the entire Talent Development and Inclusion function. That is a scope pitch, not a coordinator pitch.
• Visible from Day 1. They are the first company face every new Americas hire sees, and they partner directly with HRBPs and senior leaders in Palo Alto.
• Genuine AI exposure. The team is actively using Claude and Gemini in the work, which is a resume builder for anyone trying to move into AI enabled People Operations.
• Watch-out: 20 hours per week. This is a part time contract at a Palo Alto cost of living. Screen for people who already have a partial income, are consulting independently, or are deliberately working reduced hours. Anyone who needs full time income will churn.
• Watch-out: the Monday onsite is non negotiable. It anchors the whole role, and it means the candidate must live within a real commute of Palo Alto. Confirm commute tolerance before submitting.
• Watch-out: this is a hybrid profile. Facilitation charisma and survey/data rigor rarely sit in the same person. Expect to trade off, and decide with the hiring manager which side matters more before sourcing heavily.

Candidate Profile

• Five to ten years in Learning and Development, Talent Development, Onboarding, or People Analytics, most likely at a technology company.
• Currently either an independent L&D consultant, a contractor between engagements, or someone deliberately working reduced hours (parent returning to work, portfolio careerist, semi retired corporate L&D leader).
• Comfortable standing in front of a room of new hires on Monday morning and comfortable cleaning survey data on Wednesday afternoon.
• Likely has Qualtrics or a comparable survey platform on their profile, plus at least one named LMS.
• Bay Area based and already accustomed to a Peninsula commute.

Sourcing Channels

• LinkedIn Recruiter as the primary channel, using the Boolean below and the location coverage lists.
• Target Talent Development and People Analytics teams at the local employers listed above, especially companies that have had recent layoffs or hiring freezes in their People function.
• Independent L&D consultants and fractional People Operations practitioners, who fit the 20 hour structure naturally.
• ATD (Association for Talent Development) Bay Area chapter networks and Qualtrics or Docebo user community groups.
• Alumni of the peer vendor set (Cohesity, Veeam, Druva) who already understand the data security space.

LinkedIn Location Coverage: Palo Alto, CA

Geographic Overview

Palo Alto sits at the northern end of Silicon Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, roughly 34 driving miles south of San Francisco and about 15 miles north of San Jose. US 101, Interstate 280, and El Camino Real all run the length of the Peninsula through or beside the city, with Caltrain paralleling them, and the Dumbarton and San Mateo bridges connect east across the Bay. That layout puts nearly the entire Peninsula, all of the South Bay, and a meaningful slice of the East Bay inside a 60 minute drive in normal conditions.

Coverage Table

Location Type Est. drive time from Palo Alto LinkedIn recognition confidence

San Francisco Bay Area	Metro Area	Regional, covers all rows below	High
San Jose, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara Metro Area	Metro Area	~20 to 35 min to core	High
Stanford	City/Census Area	~5 min	High
Menlo Park	City	~5 to 10 min	High
East Palo Alto	City	~5 to 10 min	High
Mountain View	City	~10 to 15 min	High
Los Altos	City	~10 to 15 min	High
Atherton	Town	~10 to 15 min	Medium
Portola Valley	Town	~15 min	Medium
Woodside	Town	~15 to 20 min	Medium
Los Altos Hills	Town	~15 min	Medium
Sunnyvale	City	~15 to 20 min	High
Redwood City	City	~15 to 20 min	High
Cupertino	City	~15 to 25 min	High
Santa Clara	City	~20 to 25 min	High
San Carlos	City	~20 min	High
Belmont	City	~20 to 25 min	High
Saratoga	City	~20 to 30 min	High
San Mateo	City	~20 to 30 min	High
Foster City	City	~20 to 30 min	High
Newark	City	~20 to 30 min	High
Burlingame	City	~25 to 30 min	High
Hillsborough	Town	~25 to 30 min	High
San Jose	City	~25 to 40 min	High
Campbell	City	~25 to 35 min	High
Los Gatos	Town	~25 to 35 min	High
Milpitas	City	~25 to 35 min	High
Fremont	City	~25 to 40 min	High
Millbrae	City	~30 min	High
San Bruno	City	~30 to 35 min	High
Union City	City	~30 to 40 min	High
Half Moon Bay	City	~30 to 40 min	High
South San Francisco	City	~30 to 40 min	High
Brisbane	City	~35 to 45 min	Medium
Hayward	City	~35 to 45 min	High
Daly City	City	~35 to 45 min	High
San Francisco	City	~40 to 55 min (borderline in commute traffic)	High
Morgan Hill	City	~40 to 50 min	High
Pacifica	City	~40 to 50 min	High
Pleasanton	City	~40 to 55 min	High
Scotts Valley	City	~40 to 55 min (borderline)	High
San Leandro	City	~40 to 55 min	High
Dublin	City	~45 to 55 min	High
Oakland	City	~45 to 60 min (borderline)	High
Santa Cruz	City	~45 to 60 min (borderline)	High
San Ramon	City	~50 to 60 min (borderline)	High
Gilroy	City	~50 to 60 min (borderline)	High
Berkeley	City	~50 to 60 min (borderline)	High
Livermore	City	~50 to 65 min (borderline)	High

Verification note: drive times for San Francisco, Oakland, Fremont, Pleasanton, Santa Cruz, Gilroy, Berkeley, and Half Moon Bay were confirmed against published route data, then widened into ranges to account for Peninsula commute traffic. The remaining drive times and all population figures behind the confidence ratings are estimated from general knowledge of the Bay Area rather than individually verified via live search. Say the word and I will run the verification pass on the specific rows before this table is treated as final and saved.

1. Best metro area option

• San Francisco Bay Area

2. Best city/suburb options

• Palo Alto
• Mountain View
• Menlo Park
• Redwood City
• Sunnyvale
• Santa Clara
• San Mateo
• San Jose

3. Broad LinkedIn location coverage list

• San Francisco Bay Area
• San Jose, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara Metro Area
• Palo Alto
• Stanford
• Menlo Park
• East Palo Alto
• Mountain View
• Los Altos
• Los Altos Hills
• Atherton
• Portola Valley
• Woodside
• Sunnyvale
• Redwood City
• Cupertino
• Santa Clara
• San Carlos
• Belmont
• Saratoga
• San Mateo
• Foster City
• Newark
• Burlingame
• Hillsborough
• San Jose
• Campbell
• Los Gatos
• Milpitas
• Fremont
• Millbrae
• San Bruno
• Union City
• Half Moon Bay
• South San Francisco
• Brisbane
• Hayward
• Daly City
• San Francisco
• Morgan Hill
• Pacifica
• Pleasanton
• Scotts Valley
• San Leandro
• Dublin
• Oakland
• Santa Cruz
• San Ramon
• Gilroy
• Berkeley
• Livermore

4. Lean LinkedIn location coverage list

• Palo Alto
• Menlo Park
• Mountain View
• Los Altos
• Redwood City
• Sunnyvale
• Santa Clara
• Cupertino
• San Carlos
• San Mateo
• San Jose

Boolean Search String

(onboarding OR "on-boarding" OR orientation OR L&D OR "talent development" OR "learning and development") AND (survey OR surveys OR measurement OR metrics OR analytics OR analysis OR scorecard OR dashboard OR dashboards OR reporting OR insights OR LMS OR "learning management" OR elearning OR "e-learning") AND (Qualtrics OR SurveyMonkey OR "Culture Amp" OR Docebo OR Cornerstone OR SuccessFactors OR Workday OR Jira OR Confluence OR "Google Workspace" OR facilitation OR facilitator OR facilitating OR curriculum OR "instructional design" OR "360 feedback" OR "employee experience" OR "people analytics" OR GenAI OR "generative AI" OR ChatGPT OR Copilot)